Obama visit to Yellowstone and Grand Canyon is part of a presidential tradition

August 11, 8:02 PMNorth American Travel ExaminerBob Riel

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  Old Faithful Geyser at Yellowstone.

President Barack Obama is taking his family on a trip to Yellowstone and Grand Canyon National Parks this weekend. As a father, he is taking advantage of an opportunity to introduce his daughters to some of the natural wonders of the United States; and, as the leader of the government that manages the National Park Service, he is promoting some of the jewels of the park system during a weekend when these destinations are waiving admission fees. Although it may not be part of the official narrative during the Obamas’ outing, the president is actually following in a long history of presidential visits to national parks.

The U.S. president who is most associated with the national park system is perhaps Theodore Roosevelt, who spent a lot of time in the West prior to his presidency and was an ardent conservationist. Roosevelt signed legislation establishing five national parks, including Crater Lake in Oregon and Mesa Verde in Colorado. He also used his executive authority to establish a number of national monuments, ranging from Devils Tower in Wyoming to the Petrified Forest in Arizona.

The president who signed legislation establishing the first national park was Ulysses S. Grant, when he gave that honor to Yellowstone in 1872. Ironically, Grant himself never visited Yellowstone, although at least nine other presidents have made the trip.

Here is a series of other interesting anecdotes regarding presidents and the two national parks that the Obamas will visit:

- President Gerald Ford visited Yellowstone in 1976, 40 years after he had served as a young National Park Service ranger there. He recalled his time at Yellowstone as “one of the greatest summers” of his life.

- President Theodore Roosevelt laid the cornerstone for the Roosevelt Arch at the northern entrance to Yellowstone. He also visited the Grand Canyon in 1903, before it was a national park, and again in 1911 after he had left office.

- Although President Jimmy Carter visited Yellowstone during his time in office, he made a more lasting impression there as a former president when he ate in the employee pub of the Lake Hotel and signed the pub’s wall.

- President Chester Arthur did something at Yellowstone in 1883 that will likely not be repeated by any future president. That is, he rode a horse between the park’s southern and northern entrances and then returned east on the newly completed Northern Pacific Railroad.

Credits: Photo courtesy of Xanterra Parks & Resorts. Some of the anecdotes above were provided by park historians from the National Park Service and from Xanterra Parks & Resorts.